Fraser Nelson, who writes the lead opinion piece every week in Saturday's Times and was editor of the Spectator from 2009 to 2024, is by no conceivable definition a leftie.
Here are a few paragraphs from his article today about disinformation in the Henry Nowak murder case and Nigel Farage's intervention. This is important stuff, because once an issue like this hits social media, the facts rarely get in the way of a good story. (There's no point in just posting a link, because Times content is behind a paywall.)
Aged 62, Nigel Farage understands the dynamics of the digital world better than his rivals. He understands its power, now that far more people get their news from social media than any newspaper. He understands the opportunities; the old constraints, what establishment types refer to as restraint, no longer apply. He also seems worried about being outbid in this digital-outrage auction by Rupert Lowe’s Restore, which is calling for Vickrum Digwa to hang. The emergence of the video allowed, in effect, a new digital court case, with the police in the dock.
This case [that is, the case that Nelson tells us is erroneous] has four parts. First, that police rushed to the scene because they thought they were investigating racism, which they prioritise above murder. Next, on arrival they “uncritically” believed the killer’s claim that Nowak had been racist. Thirdly, that Digwa was carrying the 21cm knife thanks to a legal exemption for Sikhs. And finally, the famous “two-tier justice”: a shorter sentence because Sikhs are allowed to carry knives.
But the 999 transcript shows police were called out not to a woolly accusation of racism but an assault, where an injured assailant was being held captive. The cuffing, now seen by the world via the bodycam, was horrific. Digwa’s family, in short, lied. But the judge said Nowak was “handcuffed for about a minute” before the arresting officer tried to save his life. That wasn’t shown in the leaked bodycam footage. In any case the judge said Nowak could not have survived his wounds however quickly he received first aid. The careful erasure of such context allows the story to be transformed into one about anti-white racism.
JD Vance, the US vice-president, now holds up Nowak’s death as an example of the “way a civilisation dies”. His State Department speaks of “two-tiered policing” and the general accusation is that Digwa was legally carrying a knife because he was a Sikh. But in most of the western world, Sikhs are allowed to carry a “kirpan” knife, often small, as part of their faith. The killer had one around his neck. But, as the Sikh Federation has pointed out, he was in the habit of walking around with a second knife, a 21cm dagger. Even if it was religious, said the judge, it would make no difference to the verdict. That’s what he was convicted of: possession of a bladed weapon as well as murder.
And the length of the sentence? In his letter to the attorney-general, Farage protests that “murderers are punished more leniently if they use religious weapons as instruments of murder”. No such discount exists. Murder sentences carry a starting point of 25 years if a weapon is taken to the scene in order to kill; 15 years if not, as here. For Digwa, the judge added eight years for ten aggravating factors, among them that he had “abused the privilege extended to Sikhs” and “dishonoured” his religion: with mitigation, that became a 21-year minimum. Religion made his sentence longer, not shorter.
“The message from the establishment is clear: white lives don’t matter,” says Farage. “White suffering doesn’t count.” So we can see racial politics becoming a core part of Reform’s message. A big step — and one Farage may come to regret.
